Manchester City forward edging closer to La Liga switch

Manchester City forward Nolito is edging closer to a move back to La Liga according to reports today.

The BBC claim that the Spanish striker will move back to Spain to join La Liga club Real Betis for just £3.4million.

This fee looks like a relative bargain considering Manchester City beat Barcelona to the strikers signing when they paid Celta Vigo £13.8m just ten months ago.

Nolito seemed to be firmly part of Pep Guardiola’s plans for this season, starting several games early on in the season, and bagged his first two Premier League goals against Stoke City in just his second appearance in the League.

However, towards the latter parts of the season, the Spaniard has not been involved on the pitch very often, making just 19 Premier League appearances in total. He has played just 42 minutes of Premier League football in 2017, and has only started one game of football in that time, an FA Cup fixture against Huddersfield Town back in February.

Nolito is now preparing to play for his fourth Spanish club, as a move to Real Betis edges closer, although his £100,000-a-week wages could be a problem for the club placed 15th in La Liga.

Despite being in fourth position and still in with a sout of reaching the Champions League, Pep Guardiola will be disappointed with his debut season in England. The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss will finish the season without a trophy for the first time in his career, and seems to have struggled to come to terms with the competitiveness of the Premier League.